Hello everyone,
For those of you who know me, you know that my family LOVES Halloween. We decorate our house as much for Halloween as we do for Christmas. I know it can get expensive to celebrate and decorate for the holidays, but there is affordable ways to celebrate every holiday. Around each holiday I will write a post and share with you my tips and tricks. So for this post, I thought I would start with some of my favorite affordable Halloween decoration ideas.
First it is never too early to prepare for Halloween. I start on November 1st every year. For the next year. Before Halloween I pay attention
and keep a list of all of the new items that I liked and where I saw them. But I do not buy them at that time. I only get 1-2 new Halloween items each year, (which I pay full price for). The rest of my Halloween supply I get on November 1st. I am a patient person, and money is tight for
me as well as a lot of people. I cannot justify spending full price on most items to decorate my house, so I will wait. Stores however are very
IMPATIENT! The day after Halloween, they want to get everything off the shelves so they can finish putting out the Christmas items. (I say finish, because most stores start putting up Christmas in September!) To clear out the holiday items FAST, they will sell the items for 50 %- 75% off the first day. 4 days after Halloween almost all the items will be 80%-90% off!!
This is a great deal. I love to decorate with the fine spun white spider web, but these sometime cost as much as $3.50 before Halloween. However after Halloween they are only .15-25 Cents! I will spend $1.00 and I can place spider webs all over my house the next year. Halloween decorations do not expire, most are good from one Halloween to another. I love the plastic spiders , Halloween pencils, Vampire teeth, Trick or Treat Pumpkins, wigs, Black lights, strobe lights, Fog juice, orange and purple string lights, Halloween glitter nail polish (Leatha uses these all year long), and a few non-candy items for next year Trick-or-Treaters that cannot eat candy. (I always have a Halloween
toy for those kids; everyone needs a treat they can enjoy).
Every year when I set up and decorate for Halloween I am surprised with what I have purchased on sale from the November before. It is always fun when I unwrap a cute new candle holder that I forgot I had purchased. You can get some wonderful items to help you decorate for next year.
For those of you, who want to do something this year and have very little money, look no further than your closest $1.00 store or two. I have found wonderful items for Halloween over the years from $1.00 stores. Some of my favorite items, I purchased last year, were three Halloween
menus; they are currently hanging up in my kitchen. (Aren’t they cute!) I have also four small ceramic hunted houses with ghosts that I also have from a $1.00 store.
My point is… do not discount (wink wink) getting Holiday Supplies from $1.00 stores, they have great items for any holiday. You can also get great Halloween signs for a great price here on the shop or through the “Items Currently For Sale” link above.
We have several items available, ranging from wall signs and table plaques, etched glass items, as well as my Halloween table runners. I am charging only $4.95 for the entire order to ship priority mail. So you will get your New Halloween items in 2-3 business days. You still have plenty of time to order before Halloween. I also offer local pick-up of any items for no shipping and handling charges. You can pay on the web or in person! Check out this option during checkout in the Shop!
I have some great items that you will love, that will go with anyone’s decor. Most of the items that I make are for Classic Halloween.
I am not much into the bloody and gory decorations, so I do not make them. I like the cute Halloween figures and sayings.
My next tip for affordable Halloween decorations (Besides my wonderful stuff I have for sale) is the air-inflatable nylon characters. I love
these. They come in all sizes and all prices. They are also 75% off, on November 1st. The best part about these inflatable decorations, are they are easy to store. I have a Frankenstein, 2 witches, a pirate Mickey Mouse, and a Skeleton all a cute cartoon inflatable character. They are only 4 feet tall, but they are colorful and fun to have in the house around the fireplace. When they are ready to be stored they collapse into near nothing, and are great to store in any plastic tote. My children love these and they have lasted 8 years and are still in perfect condition.
I also have a large 12 foot tall Grim Reaper outside that holds his arm and sickle up for those that are trick-or-treating to walk under. He is very large when blown up. He makes a great impression outside.
Here is Amelia standing outside in front of my Grim Reaper. She is not even up to his waist! This inflatable is also very easy and compact to store. All of my inflatables go inside one plastic tote with all of my outdoor lights and outdoor signs on top. These are great for those who want easy clean up and small storage with large fun Halloween decorations.
My last tip for this year is something my husband and I added to our outside decorations this year. It is a homemade large spider web made out of super cheap nylon rope. This rope is sold as clothesline and is only $2.88 for a 50 foot hunk at our local super department store. We used about 175 feet to make this web. and it took us 2 bunches to complete this design. So for less than $8.00, and a little time, you can create the same spider web outside your house. This will also be easy to store and re-use for next year.
We started by hooking the center rope to the top of the side of the house. Then we pulled it out, to where we wanted it to end and placed a tent spike in ¾ of the way into the ground. We then tied the center string onto the tent stake. We then did the same to the two outside ends of the web and tied each of them onto the same tent stake. We then placed the two middle strings ½ way between the outside and the center strings and
tied them to the house then to the tent stake.
We then pounded the tent stake the rest of the way into the ground. This will hold the web in place. We then placed the strings that were going to form the horizontal parts of the web.
Each layer is tied on one of the outside edges then tied around each center string until the other side is reached. The rope is then cut. To keep the ends of the rope from fraying, melt the ends with a lighter. This will help ensure the web will last a few years. The center vertical strings are tight and the horizontal layers are loose as they go up the web. This allows some movement in the wind. Finish the web, by making layers all the way up to the top of the house. When you are done you will have a wonderful cheap large outside decoration.
To add excitement at night, place a small strobe light at the bottom of the web. This will highlight the web at night. You will have a wonderful decoration at night as well as during the day. Strobe lights are also very affordable on November 1st. Grab one for next year. A regular garden spot light can also be used. My husband likes the strobe effect so we have a strobe light on top of the tent stake.
You can make a large spider out of black garbage bags with paper stuffed inside if you want to place a spider on your web. I love the web plain, with my children caught underneath.
(I also made the skirt Amelia is wearing and the dress Leatha is wearing. They love to pick out their own fabrics.)
For my next post I will write about how I am turing this Witches dress I made 2 years ago, into a Pirate costume for Leatha. Or as she calls it a
Vampirate costume! (She loves those books.)
This dress is way too short for her to wear again this year. And Witches are “So last year” if you ask Leatha. But the fabric is great. Plus, I will only spend $8.00 to make her into a Vampirate. You will love the transformation into a weathered pirate. Thank you for reading my blog. I hope that you learned something new. I look forward to your comments and responses. Let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks again,
Brenda
